Point 1 - Steve's Story

Point 1

Point 1 offers professional support for infants, children and young people experiencing the early signs of mental health and emotional problems. The service also offers guidance to parents to help support their children.

Steve’s story

My 8-year-old daughter, Amy, just couldn’t stop crying. She lives with her mother and younger sister as I separated from the family six months ago, but I have retained a good relationship with them. Amy moved to a new home to start afresh, but she was grieving for her grandmother and other elderly relatives at the time. This caused Amy great distress and her behaviour soon deteriorated.

My daughter’s issues were linked to anxiety and fear that something bad would happen to her. Amy’s thoughts became uncontrollable, not only in her day to day life but also at night.

She was convinced that someone would kidnap her in her sleep and felt frightened. This meant that Amy couldn’t enjoy her young life which saddened me.

Ormiston Families’ Point 1 service offered Amysix weeks of Talking Therapy. The sessions took a direct approach using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to assess how valid Amy’s worries and fears were. At the start of her therapy sleeping was a big problem for Amy but by focusing on her anxiety and worries that were causing her lack of sleep, Amy managed to overcome many of these issues. I made a folder with all the worksheets Amy had used during her Point 1 Talking Therapy and told her that if she ever started to get anxious again that we could look at them together.

By the end of the therapy, Amy was able to get to sleep and no longer used any medication. Amy also felt that she was able to manage her anxiety and worry. I could tell that she was much happier and really pleased that she no longer required medication. If Amy does start to feel anxious again, I know that she can use the strategies that Point 1 looked at with her during her sessions.